Marshall JVM205C 2-Channel Valve Combo 50W (Black)

Background

I’m one of the two guitar players in a classic rock cover band. We (especially me, ha ha) are real amateurs, I’ve played for over ten years, but I’m still learning. And I still have got to learn a lot. I do chords, ‘written’ solo’s, improvisations, arpeggio’s, all of it.
We play songs from e.g. Lenny Kravitz, the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, and the Kinks. I listen to classical music a lot, as well as to e.g. King Crimson and especially Frank Zappa. As for sounds I like Robert Fripp, Adrian Belew, Steve Hackett and David Gilmour, and many others.

Features:

Fifty watts all valve power, two different Celestion 12’ speakers, two channels with three sound modes each, so six basic sounds all together, reverb, two master volumes. It comes with a foot-pedal in which you can store four sounds. (Please see my remarks under ‘Ease of use’.)
The two channels both have gain, bass, middle, treble volume and reverb-controls, so the volume, gain, bass etc. are set for three modes. There are two master volumes, so you can store one sound with two volume-levels. And there are presence and resonance controls in the master section.

Sound Quality:

This JVM has got two channels: the clean/crunch and the overdrive channel. The clean/crunch channel has got three sounds: green, orange and red.

The green mode (the cleanest) of the clean/crunch channel is really spectacular. It’s warm and gives my sound real depth. My main guitar is an Ibanez Blazer (Strat-copy with three single-coils and ash body, maple fret board) and it really shines on this channel and in this mode. You can hear everything you do, the JVM is very responsive to the way you play (e.g. even the way you hold your plectrum is essential on this green channel!) In short: a lovely tone for strumming/finger picking as well as for clean solos. Small disadvantage: if you hear every little detail, you hear all the mistakes too. You can’t be sloppy here. But this sound is so pure, warm, direct and clean that you wouldn’t believe it’s a Marshall.

The red mode of the clean/crunch channel is amazing too. It goes from almost clean to crunch and everything in between. I have set the gain in a way that my guitar is rather clean when I play it softly and that the amp starts to overdrive when I hit the strings more powerfully. In this way you can easily go from cleanish tot crunch. This mode is less subtle then the green one, so if you are not certain that all the tiny little notes you are playing are correct, get this red-mode. The small disadvantage mentioned before disappears easily now.
This is my first valve-amp and I have to admit: controlling the sound just by hitting the strings with less or more power is just great. Sounds really well and is very handy.
If I were to chose just one mode in the JVM I could use for a gig, it would be this red one in the clean/crunch channel. You can play chords and solos with clean/crunch red mode. Clean is not the sparkling, shiny clean the green mode delivers, nevertheless very workable, direct and… forgiving! The green mode of the ‘real’ overdrive channel gives a deeper tone, yet crunch/red does a nice job. For power chords with an edge, this red/crunch is just fantastic.
The orange mode of the first channel is not really my cup of tea. If you play softly there’s a clean sound that sounds more or less as the clean in the red mode. But when playing with more power my Blazer doesn’t overdrive as nicely as in the red mode. Of course I can crank up the gain more, but this makes the clean disappear. I think this mode (with low gain) is nice for Les Paul-type guitars. Besides the Ibanez Blazer I have also got a Fender Strat (Mexico, Classic Player Strat Rosewood fret board), a Squier Stagemaster (hardrock guitar with Floyd Rose and HSS-pick-ups), an Aria Pro II (Les Paul copy with chambered body and two Seymour Duncan pick-ups) and an excellent )and cheap!) Jack and Danny Lucille-copy. If I’d play only on m